Tag: workshop

As part of The People’s Heritage Co-operative’s HLF funded project, ‘Untold Stories: Birmingham’s Wounded Soldiers from WW1’, Year 8 pupils at Swanshurst School took part in a series of workshops with Rachel Gillies – Community Film Maker to learn how to conduct filmed oral history interviews.

The result of their hard work is 11 remarkable interviews with a range of people discussing their own experiences and the experiences of relatives in some of the major conflicts of the 20th Century. From shelling in the trenches of The Somme to the shelling of Hartlepool, patrolling the Suez Canal to holding the line in Korea, back to the UK to the aftermath of conflict in people’s daily lives, including the reality of medical care, the interviews are eye-opening and frank.

Students took on a massive responsibility in helping interviewees share their often harrowing experiences. Special thanks must go to staff at Swanshurst School and to former teacher, Doug Smith, who facilitated the project and who organises the school’s annual ‘Veteran’s Day’. Thanks also to Veterans, School Staff and Lt Col. Steve Jeffery who were so forthcoming and generous in their interviews.

The quality of these interviews really does speak volumes about the maturity and sensitivity of pupils who were only born in the 21st Century. They are ensuring the the lessons from previous generations are passed on. And in a world that feels in a state of flux, what could be more important than that?

A week after the film-making workshop at Lichfield Festival and I’m still smiling! Last Saturday saw me running around the Festival Market with a band of aspiring film-makers, grabbing interviews and bits of footage of some of the highlights of the Festival. With a carnival atmosphere, gorgeous sunshine and the whole thing overlooked by the three spires of Lichfield Cathedral there was plenty to film!

We focused on the Festival Fairies, found out the true story of Punch and Judy, scouted for Scouts and caught some of the live dance performances. Whilst I gave some guidance on planning the shoot and showed the group how to use the equipment, the group worked together to do all the filming, even approaching complete strangers to get interviews.

The night before had been the Premiere of the Memory Box project. I’m now going to be producing DVDs of the films, which will be shown to school pupils to give them a better understanding of the Second World War. The National Memorial Arboretum will be playing the films in their Visitor Centre, and of course we will be giving copies to all of the interviewees.

The BBC ‘Me and My Movie’ workshop which I worked on last week turned out to be a really action packed day with lots of great ideas and enthusiasm from all of the young people who took part. The finished two minute film will be put forward for a CBBC ‘Me and My Movie Award’ in association with BAFTA.

This article on the BBC Birmingham website gives a flavour of some of the activities we got up to. Huge thanks are due to Jenni, Tessa and Andrea at the BBC for all their hard work. Well done to all the young people, keep on making movies!

Get in touch!

My film camera and edit suite are tools, community resources to be used. The main limit on how they are used is our imagination. So, if you have an idea for a project, however wacky, however ambitious, however big or small, please get in touch and let’s make it happen!